WATCH: Nick Kyrgios' Indian Wells campaign ends in tears as distraught Aussie retires with wrist injury

Nick Kyrgios' return to Indian Wells at the 2025 BNP Paribas Open ended in heartbreak as the Aussie retired from his first-round match against Botic van de Zandschulp. Kyrgios's retirement stemmed from a wrist injury, which he had also encountered during a recent practice session at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

On Thursday, March 6, Kyrgios took to the Indian Wells hard court to face van de Zandschulp, with the Dutchman clinching the first set 7-6(7). The Aussie fell 0-3 behind in the second set. Here, the 2022 Wimbledon Championships runner-up chose to retire, with his wrist injury proving too painful to play through. Understandably, Kyrgios was in tears.

Watch Nick Kyrgios's heartbreaking moment at Indian Wells below:

Concerningly, it's the same wrist that Kyrgios underwent surgery on back in 2023. The crafty and temperamental former ATP No. 13 later spoke up about his retirement, also bringing up the knock he picked up during practice previously.

"I wasn't too confident that I was going to be able to play today, to be honest. Two days ago in practice I had to stop my practice because I felt pain in my wrist. I felt like it was okay to take the court. Just, yeah, got progressively worse. But, yeah, started feeling sharp pain in my wrist," Kyrgios said.

The Aussie's Dutch opponent van de Zandschulp also poured in with his condolences during his post-match, on-court interview, saying:

"Always hard to see someone walk off the court like that. Especially Nick."

Kyrgios's return to tennis in this ongoing tennis season has hardly gone according to plan.

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Nick Kyrgios' Indian Wells retirement marks the latest blow in the Aussie’s ill-fated return to competitive tennis

Nick Kyrgios during a practice session at Indian Wells ahead of the 2025 BNP Paribas Open (Source: Getty)

The 2025 Brisbane International marked Nick Kyrgios' eagerly awaited comeback. However, his singles campaign at the ATP 250 event came to an early end as he fell to a three-set loss to big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round. Kyrgios also paired up with Novak Djokovic to play doubles in Brisbane, but the pair couldn't make it past the second round.

Another first-round loss followed at the 2025 Australian Open. This time around, Kyrgios was defeated by Jacob Fearnley. In doubles, he teamed up with compatriot and close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis, but they retired from their first-round match against fellow Aussies Aleksandar Vukic and James Duckworth after Kokkinakis was unable to continue with a shoulder problem.

Worryingly, Kyrgios said in the aftermath of his first-round singles loss in Melbourne that he may have played singles for the last time at the Australian Open.